Iran Defies West Again, Unveils New Generation Nuclear Centrifuges

Iran's foreign minister insisted that the country's nuclear program is not intended to make weapons and called for a resumption of talks while speaking to the United Nations on Wednesday. Photo: Reuters

Iranian State television said a new generation of faster and more efficient uranium enrichment centrifuges will be unveiled on Wednesday, signaling that Tehran cares little for the international sanctions and that the country would go ahead with its nuclear plans defying all odds.

Iran's senior national security official Ali Baqeri also said the country's nuclear establishment has decided to load its own domestically made nuclear fuel rods into the Tehran Research Reactor for the first time, a BBC report said.

The fourth generation of domestically made centrifuges have higher speed and production capacity ... it will be unveiled on Wednesday, the state TV said.

The Iranian statement, which came just days after President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad said he would make some important announcements regarding the progress in Iran’s nuclear project, sent alarm bells ringing in Tel Aviv.

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu reacted to the news saying the world must set red lines on the Iranian nuclear program. He also urged world leaders to condemn Tehran for the recent attacks on Israeli embassies abroad.

Iran has always insisted that its nuclear program is geared towards peaceful purposes, but the West and Israel have been highly skeptical about Tehran's real intentions.

With each passing year, the Iranian nuclear project has developed legs and acquired more finesse. Iranian local media had reported last month that an underground uranium enrichment facility in central Iran will soon start enriching uranium at a purity level far higher than what is needed for energy production.

Uranium needs to be enriched to a purity level of between 3 and 5 percent for nuclear power generation. The Fordow nuclear enrichment plant will be operational in the near future ... 20 percent, 3.5 percent and four percent enriched uranium can be produced at this site, the head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization Fereydoun Abbasi said, Reuters reported in January.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in January that enrichment of uranium to the purity level of 20 percent had started at the Qom nuclear plant.

Weapons grade nuclear enrichment will require uranium to be enriched to the purity level of above 93 percent.